Pragmatism and the Philosophy of Chemistry - Philosophy of Chemistry - page 85

In order for important chemical and biochemical dynamic coherences to persist
through time, 22 high-energy starting materials must enter (repeatedly or continu-
ously) and products must leave (Earley 2006 ). Such higher-level coherences (called
'

) result from closure networks of relationship s among
dynamic components: those components include processes (such as chemical
reactions) that destroy some items while producing yet others (Earley 2003 ,
2014 ). States of affairs that persist and/or recur are generally based on closure of
networks of interactions among components.
Many-component systems are controlled by large (often immense) numbers of
environmental variables (including concentrations of all components). If functions
of components interact (either positively in catalysis of negatively in inhibition)
systems will be unstable in some regions of parameter-space (Mainzer and Chua
2013 ). Such instability opens the way for the origin of more-extensive coherence
through closure of networks of processes. The more complicated the original
system is the greater is the probability of self-sustaining closure: if any such closure
is possible, then generally myriads of mechanisms lead to self-sustaining closure
(Kauffman 1993 , 1995 ). In some well-studied chemical systems, molecular mech-
anisms of such effects can be elucidated in detail. Similar self-organization of
dynamic open-system coherence also occurs in more-complex (e.g., biochemical,
ecological, economic and political) situations for which molecular-level clarifica-
tion is not to be expected.
William H. Sewell, Jr. ( 2005 , 124 ff .) avoids explicit definition but understands
human social structures as sets of habitual actions that persist or recur through a
significant time-period—whether or not the human individuals involved are aware
of those patterns or desire them to continue. This is analogous to the notion of
dissipative structure in chemistry and evolutionary-stable-structure in evolutionary
biology. 23 At least since the prehistoric origin of property ownership along with the
beginnings of permanent human settlements (Renfrew 2009 , 115 ff.) human social
structures necessarily have involved some specialization of effort—differentiation
of function—however small. According to Dewey, human individuality originated
in such differentiation:

dissipative structures '

To possess and exercise an office is to be representative and the history or development of
offices, or representative functions, is the history of transformation of biological traits into
traits constituting persons . ... As in so many other cases, theoretical doctrine executes an
inversion of actual order. Instead of moral relations existing because human beings are
intrinsically persons, they become personal because of the rise and development of offices
having at least rudimentary moral qualities. And this change from the biological to the
distinctively human takes place not just under social conditions but because of influences,
pressures, and commendations (approvals) occurring in group and community life. The
case is similar to that in which, instead of acts being approved because they are virtuous in
and of themselves, they become virtues because of the responses in others they habitually
evoke. Just as men are worshipped not because they are gods but become gods because of
the reverence and adoration which is accorded them. (Dewey 2012 , 189-190)

22 Such coherences cannot long persist in closed systems.
23 This also has parallels in economics.